"traditional"

so, a tourist came into the cafe the other day.

not that this is unusual, but anyway.

he asks the usual questions (where are you from? is this your cafe? how long has it been open? etc, etc) and goes about enjoying his cafe au lait.

meanwhile, it starts to pour down rain. i'm talking like rainin' sideways type lashing rain.

it was still august then -- and hiroshima has gotten 3 times its usual amount of rain. we had all of two sunny days last month, no joke.

i'm looking out the windows at the head of the cafe and scowling. business gets slow when it rains like the world is going to end.

tourist boy notices and casually asks what there is to do in hiroshima on a rainy day.

"what indeed," i replied, and went to rattle off a list of stuff to do in the rain. it was a short list, but i digress. the tourist taps some stuff into his ipad, nodding every now and again at my explanation of landmarks, before he asks,

"do you know any good places to eat for traditional..."

traditional japanese food, my brain finishes, immediately pulling up kaiseki (super traditional japanese lunch/dinner courses) restaurants and places to get good, authentic japanese food. i've got like 6 mental tabs open by the time he finishes saying the word "traditional" and moves onto the next word.

"oh, oko&$#@%&-yaki?"

okonomiyaki?!   

my eyes must've bugged out.

okonomiyaki is a local hiroshima dish (okay, they have it in osaka too, but that's osaka-style, it doesn't count), but it's just not something that ever struck me as being traditional. i mean, i guess it is? because it's been around for ling enough, but it's not. it's b-kyuu gurume which basically means like cheap, everyday foods. you'd never hear okonomiyaki described as "traditional" --- it'd be like calling grilled cheese or PBJ a "traditional american sandwich".

y'see what i mean?

can food be considered traditional even? 

does that even make sense?

classic, sure i can see that, but traditional?

you got me there.